LESS IS MORE

I read an article recently that presented a book called "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping" by Judith Levine (http://www.judithlevine.com) - a very powerful, very exciting idea. Through the article I found out about the international "Buy Nothing Day" movement which is definitely something I am going to support as a way of raising awareness of just how much consumerism is an obstacle to freedom. Before I go any further I need to state that I am NOT glorifying poverty and advocating that we should all give up our comforts and go back 2000 years - no. But I just cringe and something rises up within me when I hear stories of queues outside Harrods the night before the sales, of people violently fighting over those limited edition fashion items, and kids just wanting to go to London to spend the day at Hamley's! It is WRONG I say - wrong! I have found freedom in experiencing a simpler way of life in Malawi, with less stuff, more time, more open space, and fewer layers of labels, barriers of Ipods, Blackberry distractions to get in the way of life. It has been increasingly hard to maintain that simplicity in this Land of Plenty, but to me it's something like healty eating and excercise, hard to stick to the routine, but you feel so much better for it. I have been asking myself how long could I go without buying anything other than food and medicine (like Judith levine did for a year) and how would my life be impacted? Especially my social life... If I get really serious about this I might put myself to the test one of these days....